PASSIONATE cricket fan Michael Gegg has written a book to chronicle the careers of some of the most famous stars in the sport.

Those Were The Days is a series of short interviews (34 in total) with cricketing heroes such as Graham Thorpe, Allan Lamb, Adam Hollioake, Jack Russell, Angus Fraser, Nick Knight and Ian Gould . It also features artwork from Jack Russell.

Gegg, who regularly edits England cricket supporters website addisarmycricket.co.uk, has pulled the interviews together in a book to raise funds for the Ruth Strauss Foundation.

Former England captain Sir Andrew Strauss launched the foundation following the death of his wife, Ruth, following her brave battle with an inoperable form of lung cancer. Gegg has also lost family members to cancer.

Gegg told the Observer: “What surprised me when writing the book was just how genuinely open people were to sharing their stories, but also how helpful.

“My favourite all-time cricketer, Graham Thorpe MBE, very kindly agreed to write the foreword and Jack Russell MBE gave me some of his artwork to use inside.

“Since we launched last week, I’ve been delighted with just how much people have got behind it. Allan Lamb tweeted out about it, as did Adam Hollioake and Jack Russell.

“Test Match Special retweeted messages, as did the Barmy Army and the editor of ESPN CricInfo. That has been really nice.

“It’s a series of short interviews, 10-12 pages for each player (or coach), where they discuss all aspects of their career.

“I’ve deliberately ordered them by the date they made their first class playing debut, which gives it an element of structure, and it pretty much covers every significant Test story from the 60s onwards.

“It has been three years of fun. To have the opportunity to spend one or two hours on the phone, or in-person, speaking to some of our cricketing heroes and asking them about all aspects of their career has just been an absolute joy.

“What was pleasing was the response of the players. Hand-on-heart none of them were reluctant to share anything. There are tons of fun stories throughout, but also some difficult topics.

“For example, one of my favourite interviews was with Adam Hollioake -a lovely, lovely guy. He shared some really funny tales, but also spoke openly in regards to his brother Ben, who was sadly killed in a car accident.

“John Morris talked about the famous Tiger Moth plane ride with David Gower and how that one incident pretty much cost him his England career.

“But, the most rewarding was former England all-rounder Craig White, who emailed me afterwards to say it was one of the favourite interviews he had done having had a mixed time with the media during his playing days.”

Gegg added: “I wanted a cover design that reflected stories that date back to the 1960s.

“I love what the designer came up with in terms of a well-worn cricket bat and ball, so for me it was the perfect image to reflect 6 decades of stories.”

Those Were The Days can be purchased from £12.99 on Amazon at amazon.co.uk/Those-were-Days-collection-characters/dp/1704010594